When I am feeling virtuous yet thirsty, I love a few leaves of the herb added to boiling water for a fresh mint tea, or when I am feeling not so virtuous I love it with Bacardi and sugar and lime juice in a mojito.

Used pretty much all over the world but mainly in the Middle East and Asia, mint can liven up anything from a potato salad to a fresh fruit jelly. With its warm, fresh aromatic flavour and its wonderful cool aftertaste (not to mention its wonderful digestive and diuretic properties), it is definitely one herb to grow if you have some space.

The good thing is that it grows here very well as it needs a bit of coolness and moisture in the ground.

There are hundreds of varieties of the herb, spearmint being the most common, and probably the most versatile, but also worth checking out are ginger mint, apple mint and peppermint.

Homemade mint sauce is great with roast lamb . . . just chop up two large handfuls of the herb and mix it with four tbsp boiling water and a generous tbsp of caster sugar with a pinch of salt. Allow it to cool, then add three or four tbsp cider vinegar to taste .

MOJITO Serves 2 This has to be one of my favourite cocktails; and at Hakkasan, a fabulous new, very cool and buzzy Asian restaurant in London, they make the best I have had, apart from my brother-in-law, Dodo's.

Two tbsp sugar Two tbsp mint leaves Juice of two limes Eight cubes of ice, crushed 100ml white rum, such as Bacardi Splash of soda water Put the sugar and mint leaves in a frozen glass and crush with a pestle or the back of a spoon, just enough to release the natural oils from the mint. Add the lime KE juice, rum, crushed ice and a small splash of soda water, mix and pop in a straw cut in two, and drink.

CORIANDER AND MINT SALSA

This is a pesto of sorts, so is incredibly versatile . . . the mint and the coriander balance each other very well.

Serve as a sauce with roast or barbecued meat, or drizzle on toast with cheese and salami, or use as a dip for raw vegetables, crispy poppadums or wedges of pitta bread.

Four tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander, soft stalks included Two tbsp roughly chopped fresh mint One spring onion, finely chopped Two cloves of garlic, mashed Six fl oz olive oil Salt and pepper Whizz all the ingredients in a food processor. Check seasoning and add more oil if necessary.

COUS COUS WITH LEMON AND MINT
Serves 6

This cous cous is great to serve with roast or barbecued lamb or chicken. Add the mint just when you are ready to serve to prevent it going a bit black.

250g cous cous
Two tbsp olive oil
300ml boiling water, vegetable or chicken stock
Juice of 1/2-one lemon

Handful of fresh mint, chopped Salt and freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 1800C, gas 4. Put the cous cous into a heat-proof bowl, drizzle over the olive oil and rub it into the cous cous with your fingers.

Stir in the water or stock and cover the bowl with a saucepan lid or a plate and put in the oven for about 10 minutes until hot.

Add lemon juice and the chopped mint, season to taste, and serve.

VIETNAMESE CHICKEN AND MINT SALAD
Serves 4

This salad is wonderfully fresh, light and very tasty. It is a delicious way to use up left-over roast chicken.

One small cooked chicken or four cooked chicken breasts, roasted or poached Quarter of a crisp white cabbage, finely shredded One large carrot, roughly grated One red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped Three tbsp lime juice Three tbsp fish sauce One tbsp caster sugar Large handful of mint leaves, chopped Four large cloves of garlic, finely sliced and fried in a little oil until golden Two generous tbsp peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped Slice the cooked chicken thinly, and place in a bowl. Add the cabbage, carrot and chilli. In a little bowl, mix the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, then pour over the chicken. Mix and leave to sit for one hour for all the flavours to mingle. Just before serving mix in the chopped mint, then scatter over the garlic and peanuts.

LAMB KOFTAS WITH A CUCUMBER AND MINT YOGHURT
Serves four for a starter, or two for a main course

Koftas are basically little spicy meatcakes, and these are delicious with the cooling cucumber and mint yoghurt.

For the koftas:

One tsp cumin seeds
One tsp coriander seeds
One tsp turmeric
Pinch ground cinnamon
225g minced lamb
Two tbsp chopped coriander
1/2-one red deseeded chilli, chopped Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the cucumber and mint yoghurt:

110g yoghurt
1/2 cucumber, grated and squeezed to remove water
Two tbsp chopped mint
One lemon, juice and zest

First make the koftas. Mix the cumin and coriander seeds and toast in a dry pan, then crush in a pestle and mortar. Mix the lamb with the spices and all remaining kofta ingredients. Toss a little of this mixture on a pan and taste for seasoning.

Form into little patties, making about 12.

Mix the cucumber and mint yoghurt ingredients together, taste for seasoning and set aside.

Cook the koftas on a grill pan or frying pan. I usually start them on a hot pan to brown them all over, then finish cooking them in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Serve on a plate with cucumber and mint yoghurt.

Watermelon, feta and mint salad
Serves 6

A light, tasty and refreshing salad that's perfect for summer dining.

250g feta cheese, broken up into chunks
One medium-sized red chilli, seeds removed and cut into thin slivers.
One garlic clove, crushed
100ml extra virgin olive oil
Pinch sugar
One small ripe watermelon, deseeded and cut into chunks
Small bunch mint, leaves picked and torn
1/2 lemon, juice and zest

Mix the feta with the chilli, garlic and enough of the oil to make the mixture moist. Season and add a pinch of sugar.

Cover and set in a cool place for the flavours to develop.

Put the watermelon in a wide shallow bowl and add the feta and juices. Add the mint leaves, remaining olive oil, lemon juice and zest and serve.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF MINT

For the last few years, many chefs have been inspired by the likes of Ferran Adria of El Bulli in Barcelona and Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck in England, and to be honest I thought, probably in ignorance, that this kind of food with bizarre things like beetroot 'cappuccinos' and asparagus 'froths' were full of. . . well. . .hot air.

But on a recent visit to Mint restaurant in Ranelagh village in Dublin, where I had heard many good things about, I was absolutely blown away by the food. That is not to say that chef, Dylan McGrath is trying to do what anyone else is doing . . .his cooking is totally original.

The flavours are so natural, yet surprisingly and wonderfully intense, and the food also happens to be great fun.

How many restaurants have you been to where you are given surprise Michelin star-worthy homemade lollipops and candy floss at the end of a meal?

Check out Mint, and you are in for a treat, and there is not a bowl of snail porridge in sight. Tel: 01 4978655.

BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Asia . . . food from our travels, published by Mitchell Beazley, is a gastro-led travelogue of Asia, written and photographed by Alistair Hendy.

It has been out for a couple of years now but is one that anyone who loves to eat and travel will adore.

It is crammed with delicious and unusual recipes from his journey through India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan.